My point was not the geology of the Moon it was the possession of the resources and possibly why no investment is made in that direction. I would be more interest iron and aluminum than diamonds because that could be used to build ships for utilizing the rest of the solar system rather than lifting it out of Earth's gravity well.

Don't you think, though, (anyone) that there is some exploration taking place up there right now? Admittedly I'm not completely up to date on its progress, but the ISS is still up and running and the experiments they're carrying out on a daily basis will have an impact on future technology and space exploration.

Okay, maybe it will be the military and multinationals that gain from it initially, but that will filter down eventually to we plebians. Remember Teflon? Learning how humans cope long-term with weightlessness was obviously a biggie recently and there have been other experiments that will impact on our eventual exploration of the near-universe.

BTW, if anyone knows of a novel featuring the ISS, I'd welcome a recommendation (or a proximity warning if it sucks).

Okay, maybe it will be the military and multinationals that gain from it initially, but that will filter down eventually to we plebians. Remember Teflon? Learning how humans cope long-term with weightlessness was obviously a biggie recently and there have been other experiments that will impact on our eventual exploration of the near-universe.

There's a difference between that and actual colonization. Colonization requires massive effort, and effort requires psychological investment, or humans won't make the effort. The problem is, we're running out of time to get them on the same page and taking it seriously. The effort to make a foothold in a meaningful way will require huge input of materials, resources, and people. The reason is simple: humanity is barely feeding, housing, and occupying itself right now, despite that they could do far better with ease. As their population increases, their mediocrity in self-management means an ever increasing chance of total system failure. When oil runs out, if no technological replacement has been reached, that is it. Game over for man's technological society.

Humanity can do better, easily. Right now, they aren't. It's the bridging of a future where people have gotten over their various current issues to the right now malaise that is harder to accept than a warp drive or full body prosthetic.

If we can manage our resources better and keep population growth under control, we have theoretically almost unlimited time to get off-planet. I don't go for doom-and-gloom scenarios; I'm cautiously optimistic about the future.

But in the short run, can't we get working on that moonbase? It doesn't have to and shouldn't be a unilateral American project; we should enlist all the spacefaring powers. After the ISS is retired, that would be a good next step to aim for. By that time I bet Brazil and India will have space programs of their own too, and I'm sure they'd be on board for it.

If we can manage our resources better and keep population growth under control, we have theoretically almost unlimited time to get off-planet. I don't go for doom-and-gloom scenarios; I'm cautiously optimistic about the future.

Unless a big rock falls from the sky. It has happened before and will happen again.

If we can manage our resources better and keep population growth under control, we have theoretically almost unlimited time to get off-planet. I don't go for doom-and-gloom scenarios; I'm cautiously optimistic about the future.

But in the short run, can't we get working on that moonbase? It doesn't have to and shouldn't be a unilateral American project; we should enlist all the spacefaring powers. After the ISS is retired, that would be a good next step to aim for. By that time I bet Brazil and India will have space programs of their own too, and I'm sure they'd be on board for it.

Definitely agree that we could live on Earth itself for thousands of more years. By managing our resources properly and also directing technological advancement towards doing so, we could find a way to make Earth support 50 billion people. If it was done right.

I believe we eventually colonize other worlds because we want to instead of a dying Earth scenario. Earth being the base world as we also colonize other planets and moons in our solar system seems plausible to me.

We are all part of Earth, i think we should branch out as such. Instead we will go: Oh America gets this part of the moon, Russia gets this part, France gets this part....etc

Definitely agree that we could live on Earth itself for thousands of more years. By managing our resources properly and also directing technological advancement towards doing so, we could find a way to make Earth support 50 billion people. If it was done right.

Managing resources? 50 billion people?

How many people can't figure out that planned obsolescence has been going on in automobiles for decades?

Talk to people that LOVE CARS and they don't know a cam shaft from a crank shaft and we are doing the same stupid nonsense with computers. How many different makes and models of netbooks and tablets do we need?

900,000,000 cars on the planet and the entire economics profession can't talk about the depreciation of all of the junk.

How many people can't figure out that planned obsolescence has been going on in automobiles for decades?

Talk to people that LOVE CARS and they don't know a cam shaft from a crank shaft and we are doing the same stupid nonsense with computers. How many different makes and models of netbooks and tablets do we need?

900,000,000 cars on the planet and the entire economics profession can't talk about the depreciation of all of the junk.

50 billion!!! 50 billion!!! 50 billion!!! 50 billion!!!

psik

What's wrong with the 50 billion number? I said if it was done right (which actually was agreeing with you except i guess i named a much larger number than you were thinking of) Are you wanting me to come up with an idea where we could actually get Earth to support 50 billion people? Perhaps it would be good to discuss solutions to Earth eventually getting overcrowded.